Employee training practices and unions: Perspectives from Quebec

• Date: 01 March 2017
• Author: Abderrahman HASSI,Roland FOUCHER
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1564-913X.2015.00045.x
• Published date: 01 March 2017

International Labour Review, Vol. 156 (2017), No. 1

Copyright © The authors 2017

Journal compilation © International Labour Organization 2017

* Al Akhawayn University, Morocco, email: Abderrahman_Hassi@uqac.ca. ** University

of Quebec, email: roland.foucher@uqo.ca.

Responsibility for opinions expressed in signed articles rests solely with their authors, and

publication does not constitute an endorsement by the ILO.

Employee training practices and unions:

Perspectives from Quebec

Abderrahman HASSI* and Roland FOUCHER**

Abstract. Based on a survey of 301 small and medium-sized enterprises in

Quebec, this article explores the inuence of unions on employee training in these

rms. While unionization is generally found to have an inuence on employee

training practices, the authors’ focus on the inclusion or non-inclusion of spe-

cic training clauses in collective agreements shows that such clauses establish a

regulatory framework for certain forms of learning and training support at the

workplace, which enhances union inuence. Overall, however, the inclusion (or

absence) of training clauses in collective agreements does not necessarily translate

into higher (or lower) participation in actual training activities.

Workplace training practices can be inuenced by various factors. One of

them is the presence of unions, whose impact can be studied at both

the societal and organizational levels. These two levels will be considered in this

article with the aim of investigating the inuence of unions on employee train-

ing practices in the province of Quebec from various perspectives. To do so,

we will rely on data gathered from the CEOs of 301 small and medium-sized

enterprises (SMEs) through a survey of training practices in their organization.

As a member of the Canadian Federation, the province of Quebec is

characterized by its distinctive cultural and regulatory particularities. By North

American standards, Quebec’s legislation on employee training is unique; and

the percentage of its workers who are unionized is the highest. In addition,

SMEs account for over 98 per cent of the total number of Quebec’s rms

(Institut de la Statistique du Québec, 2014).

Workforce training in Quebec:

Background and context

In the early 1990s, Quebec’s businesses invested little in training. It was the

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that served as the catalyst